In this picture released by Argentina's Presidency, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, fourth right, mourns next to the coffin containing the body of Argentina's singer Mercedes Sosa, accompanied by Sosa's relatives during her wake at the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Sunday, Oct. 4. Sosa, the "voice of Latin America", whose music inspired opponents of South America's brutal military regimes and led to her forced exile in Europe, died on Sunday at the age of 74. (AP Photo/Argentina's Presidency)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentines bid farewell to folk singer and human rights activist Mercedes Sosa with flowers and cheers Monday as her body was taken from Congress to the capital’s Chacarita cemetery.
The ashes of the singer, who died Sunday at 74, will be scattered in Argentina’s capital as well as the provinces of Mendoza and her birthplace Tucuman in accordance with her wishes.
Argentina’s president accompanied Sosa’s family in paying homage to the singer as she lay in state at Congress. Singer Argentino Luna played her songs as weeping fans sang along and left flowers on her coffin.
Other celebrities sent their eulogies from afar — like Colombia’s Shakira, who sings on Sosa’s last, Grammy-nominated album. “We are all better for having known her — she showed us that a song can teach us so much,” Shakira said.
The leftist Sosa was forced into exile by Argentina’s military dictatorship of the 1970s but never backed down, lending her voice to inspire many who suffered. In the years since democracy returned to her country, she continued singing at political rallies and taking up causes even when they were unpopular.
“I could never afford to see her in concert, but I met her today and said goodbye,” said Dora Mabel Parra, one of many weeping fans.
A large crowd also gathered at the cemetery, crying, praying, singing and dancing — and vowing to keep her memory alive.
Fans of Argentina's late folk singer Mercedes Sosa applaud as a motorcade carries Sosa's coffin from the National Congress to a local cemetery in Buenos Aires, Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. Sosa, the "voice of Latin America," whose music inspired opponents of South America's brutal military regimes and led to her forced exile in Europe, died on Sunday at the age of 74. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
